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Gendered research and
innovation (GRI)
Integrating sex and gender analysis
into the research process
Recommendations from and for universities,
to funders and others
Dr. Katrien Maes, Chief Policy Officer LERU
Bern, Swiss National Science Foundation conference
21 June 20161
What is GRI
Eating disorders in young men are underdiagnosed and
undertreated (Universities of Oxford and Glasgow)
• Young men with an eating disorder are not getting the help and
support they need because of perception as a "women's illness“
• Men are underdiagnosed and undertreated for anorexia and other
eating disorders, despite making up about a quarter of cases
• Frontline health workers have a key role in identifying eating
disorders in young men
(Raisanen and Hunt, 2015, BMJ Open)
About the processes that integrate sex and gender analysis into
all phases of research to assure excellence and quality of
outcomes2
Overview of the paper
• Why GRI matters
• GRI matters in all kinds of research areas
• The role of social sciences and humanities in GRI
• Integrating GRI into different phases of the research process
• The role of research universities – innovative practice and
recommendations
• The role of other actors - recommendations for governments,
funding agencies and journals
• GRI in EU policies and programmes
• Conclusions
4
GRI matters
because R&I matter
Hefei statement (LERU, 2013):
‘University research drives innovation, helps respond to
major national and global problems and helps provide
the narratives that make it possible to understand a
rapidly changing and increasingly volatile world’
Global challenges require comprehensive, multidisciplinary,
evidence based, (gender) inclusive solutions
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Three good reasons
• Power, vitality and quality of research
• Eliminates bias and stimulates inclusivity
• Saves lives (and money)
Between 1997 and 2000, 10 drugs were withdrawn from the U.S. market because of life-threatening health effects—8 of those showed greater severity in women (GAO, 2001).
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Issues
• Women are physically and hormonally different from
men
• Gender roles differ:
- more care-taking tasks for women
- less economic and decision-making power
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Why change is needed
• Lack of systematic consideration and mainstreaming of GRI
in the research process
• Lack of awareness by researchers, university leaders, policy
makers, politicians, research funders and journal editors
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Considerations
• Integrate a gender perspective in ALL phases of the research
process
• Avoid stereotyping and non-evidence-based assumptions
• Understand the role of social sciences and humanities in GRI
• Make the link with Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI)
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Different phases of the
research process
Framing the research question:
Validity
Be aware, consult, …
If no GRI dimension: fine, mention it
Analysing results:
Include sex/gender-disaggregated outcomes
Potentially combined with other factors (social, economic,
environment) >> complex analysis
Reporting results:
Mention if no interaction exists and why
In addition:
Gender balance in teams: Related to engagement with GRI?
Assumptions vs evidence base: e.g. “shrinking and pinking”
products10
The importance of SSH
“The social sciences and humanities cultivate knowledge about human expression, behaviour, and social life that is essential to understanding the human context of contemporary global challenges and to crafting viable solutions to them.“
Leiden Statement, 2014
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Climate change (Gendered Innovations Project)
• Social factors also predict climate footprint
• Factors that intersect with gender: income, age, travel
patterns, geographical location
• Avoid stereotypes: M-F as undifferentiated groups
• Efficiency and equality by
Example
achieving mitigation
at the lowest possible
SE cost
ensuring that costs
are shared equitably
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Heart failure and cardiovascular disease (Utrecht
University)
• Sex-specific biomarkers for heart failure
• Risk prediction in cardiovascular disease
• Atherosclerosis special issue ‘Sex Matters to the Heart’,
July 2015
• “Women Inc” a national initiative for public dissemination
Example
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Female birds sing, too (Leiden University)
• Traditionally, song production has almost exclusively been
studied in male birds
• With a different research design and a more inclusive,
international database it was found that female bird song is
more common than previously thought
(Nature Communications, 2014)
Example
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Sports activities: linking research and education
(Université Paris-Sud)
• Raise awareness and educate future sport professionals
about gender discrimination, diversity and equality issues in
sport
• 27-hour teaching module entitled “Activités physiques et
sportives et différences des sexes” for all second-year
students of STAPS (Sciences and Techniques of Physical
and Sports Activities) - informed by gendered sports
research
• 30 hours of tutorial classes for third-year students on gender
and diversity in sports education, taking into consideration
socio-historical, psychological and pedagogical approaches
Example
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Textbooks – the use of visual representation to
illustrate physics (Lund University)
• Textbook analysis: visual representation can be very
powerful – and very biased
• For example: 1/ Suggestive pictures of women to illustrate
the effect of parallel mirrors 2/ Pictures of men and women
are very different, both in content and in numbers
• Context: university-wide “Gender
Certification” project
Using methods very similar to the ones
outlined in the “Gendered Innovations”
project
For example, workshops to understand
gender assumptions in physics
professors’ teaching and research
Example
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Role of RIUs
Some examples from LERU universities
Lectures, symposia, courses
H2020 guidance booklet for researchers: GRI included
(Barcelona)
Awareness raising, workshops, encourage
interdisciplinarity (Freiburg)
Include GRI training in diversity policy (Leiden)
Include graduate research students: e.g. publication
process workshop (Milan)
Include in recruitment situations, job vacancies
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Recommendations
To universities:
Advocate widely
Create awareness and provide tools for researchers
Allocate internal funds
Identify experts
Integrate GRI into the teaching curriculum
Dialogue with governments
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Recommendations
To journals:
Set standards for inclusion of GRI in publications
Develop clear guidelines for authors
“Please provide sex-specific and/or racial/ethnic-specific data when appropriate, in describing outcomes of
epidemiologic analyses or clinical trials; or specifically state that no sex-based or racial/ethnic-based differences were
present” (JACC—Journal of the American College of Cardiology Instructions for Authors).
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Recommendations
To governments:
Include GRI in research priorities
Raise awareness, train
Include gender considerations into new policies
Allocate funding
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Recommendations
To research funders:
Adopt GRI policies, incentivise researchers
Model after EC/H2020 approach
Spread good practice
In June 2015 the NIH rolled out new guidelines for sex inclusion in research.
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-102.html
The Canadian CIHR has implemented a requirement that all grant applicants respond to mandatory questions about whether their research
designs include gender and sex [...] The purpose of this tool is to give health researchers a framework for thinking through how gender and/or sex might
be integrated into their research designs" (CIHR, 2012).
August 2015 released online training for Sex and Gender in Biomedical Research.
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What can funders do?
A variety of international, national, and private granting organizations require
sex and gender analysis. Grantees may be required to address how their
projects will promote:
Equal representation of men and women in employment, decision-
making, and as clinical research subjects (fixing the numbers)
Removing institutional barriers to gender equality (fixing the institutions)
Employing sex and gender analysis as a resource to create new
knowledge and technologies.
The European Commission has made this an important part of Horizon
2020.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research requires all applicants to
consider the sex and gender in their research.
The Gates Foundation requires applicants to consider gender in agricultural
research.
Source: http://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/sex-and-gender-analysis-policies-major-granting-agencies.html22
GRI at the EU level
ERA (European Research Area) 2014 Progress report
– GRI mentioned but remains a challenge and
implementation is not supported enough
– Member States: 10 have provisions to include GRI in
research programmes
– RPOs including GRI: 44% - with large variations
e.g. AT 70+%, DE 62%, 21% UK
– RFOs supporting GRI: in 8 MS frequently
IT 82% frequently, UK 0%)
Open Science, Open Innovation, Open to the World?
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• EC H2020 Advisory Group on Gender:
– Suggestions for GRI topics in the 2016-17 work programme (2015)
• GENDER-NET (ERA-NET FP7):
– Compendium of national initiatives on the integration of gender dimension in
research contents (2015)
• EC Vademecum on gender equality in H2020 (2014)
• EC Gendered innovations report:
– expert group chaired by Londa Schiebinger (2013)
• EC Gender toolkit:
– questions on how to integrate GRI
Horizon 2020
Proposals: how is GRI taken into account, if relevant
Monitoring by EC as of 201624
Conclusions
• GRI issues are not well-known nor practiced
• More awareness raising and training needed
• Some areas more obvious than others, but attention
needed across the board
• GRI is not necessarily an issue – investigate at the
outset and consider throughout if applicable
• LERU intends to lead in advocacy and by example
• In partnership with other actors: governments,
funders, journals
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Women hold up half the sky,
they deserve half the research
Thank you, Mao Zhedong and Simone Buitendijk
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Contact
www.leru.org
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League of European Research Universities (LERU)
Minderbroedersstraat 8
3000 Leuven - BELGIUM
Katrien Maes: